Welcome To The Show!
by FirstSilverKing
Summary: July 31, 1979 saw several Heirs and Heiresses of prominent Houses in Britain disappear. Most prominent was the first born scion of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter, Harry James Potter. Fourteen years and some odd months later during the Tri-Wizard Tournament Harry Potter's name emerges as a champion only for darkness to befall Hogwarts. Timeline manipulation. Harryx?
1. Chapter 1

**So before I begin this potential story I want to make some things abundantly clear to avoid any miscommunications and nip any assumptions from prematurely blooming into conspiracy theories. **

**Number one, this is heavily inspired by the Joker Cards made moderately well known by Insane Clown Posse. The whole idea of a carnival built up around darkness, death, decay, sin and all things that go bump in the night is too... rich an idea for me to ignore. No, for those about to ask- I am not and never have been a fan of the group, their label or affiliates. I would primarily blame this inspiration on a female friend of mine but I like this prologue-ish setup too much to "blame" her. **

**Number two, the figures that make up the six Joker Cards _ARE_ going to correspond to certain characters.**

**Number three and most obvious, I have no ownership right to the Joker Cards or HP. OBVIOUSLY!**

**Number four, this is going to be a really dark Dark!Harry. If you don't like death, torture, violence or swearing, leave now.**

**Number five, this is going to be a bashing type story. Obviously. Dark!Harry is going to butt heads, maybe kill, with light minded idiots and the outcomes are not going to be in the light minded idiots favor.**

**Number six, I am** **open to **_SUGGESTION_ **on who people think will be most compatible with Dark!Harry but if you're going to say stuff like 'He needs to be with person X for reasons x, y and z because it _ONLY_ makes sense!' then be forewarned you will be promptly ignored. Keep in mind Harry will be STRAIGHT and not involved in a harem or multi-girl relationship(one girl being tortured and possibly enjoying it is enough isn't it?).**

**All that said...**

**Let the show commence!**

* * *

"Harry Potter!"

The Great Hall, loud as it had been moments before, went graveyard silent in a split second.

Everyone knew about the members of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter. Everyone knew of James and Lily Potter, the Lord and Lady of the House that guides the 'Light' ideologically aligned house; James as its Pureblood Master of the House and Lily the Mistress. Everyone knew of Rosalind Marie Potter, the fourteen year old Heiress, whom many said had the best traits of both her parents- her mother's eye color and her father's natural charisma. Yet, there was one other member to this family that was equally famous and well known though not for reasons many would assume he would have wanted them to remember him for.

The assembled mass of bodies, students and staff of the three schools, looked around in wonder. Well, the Hogwarts kids were at least. The story of how, then, two year old Harry James Potter disappeared July 31st, 1979 was something they all knew by heart; at least the facts publicized by the Potters fourteen years ago. The rewards offered for the lost scions return or information leading to his safe return had yet to be paid to this day. Harry James Potter, he'd be seventeen or thereabouts by now. Those who last saw him remembered him as a slightly chubby toddler with his father's wild unruly hair and hair color while having his mother's emerald eye color. His disappearance had been the biggest tragedy and sparked a nationwide search in 1979. The first born of a Most Ancient and Most Noble House disappearing in the middle of a day during a traditional debut of House Heirs? Nothing was more important than finding Harry alive and bringing him home. Even with lucrative promises of a handsome sum of galleons for the child's safety, no questions asked mind you, never saw the Potter Heir returned to his kin. Search parties scoured every inch of Britain and every failure only dimmed the prospects of finding young Harry alive. In the process, the breaking of James and Lily's heart was as heavy on those closest to them.

Fourteen years. Fourteen years and now the lost scion of House Potter's name was appearing out of the Goblet of Fire? What did that mean? Was it the confirmation that Harry was still well and truly alive? If so, how hadn't he been found? Where had he been for the last fourteen years? Why hadn't he returned to his family if the previous statements were true?

Any further thoughts were cut off as a bone chillingly, deep laugh echoed in the Great Hall. More than a handful of kids, Hogwarts kids to be precise, shivered visually and cast their eyes around worriedly. Then, as if to add to the chillingly oppressive aura that encompassed the hall, it began to rain fliers from the enchanted ceiling. The paper was jet black with red writing, some thought it looked like blood, and a chilling facade of a fortune teller with a large poofy hat containing a single blood red feather at the front of it.

_'__Come one, come all, to the greatest show to ever roam the Earth. The Dark Carnival has it all. Freaks, mystery and so much more. Starring The Ringmaster and his abominations, The Great Milenko and his Far East magical oddities, The Jeckel Brothers and their Fate Juggling performance & so much more. **Come one, come all, and witness a show to die for!**_

_**Admission price: your soul**'_ the flier read.

Dumbledore's lips were set in a thin line as he motioned Minerva to silence the crowd who spoke in quiet, fearful whispers. For the muggleborns he could understand the worry, soul magic was a most vile practice banned in Europe for centuries. For one to practice such heretical abominations meant they were born or raised in the Eastern Sphere where such vile abortions of magic were revered in most circles. A rather loud fireworks hex silenced his worried flocks of students. "Everyone calm down. While this is a most..disturbing development, the wards have not-"

"Are you certain that your protective wards have held old man? The Carnival pierces all protections once invited into another's domain." The voice that spoke was a sultry and seductive one but the malicious undertone could not be hidden as it echoed around the hall. "So many potential customers… Milenko and Ringmaster will be so pleased" the voice continued with a rather pleased purr. "So many sins… Where to start.. Lust, Gluttony, Envy, Wrath… It's a veritable buffet of sin!"

Nervous eyes, primarily from the Hufflepuff table, scattered left and right as the smell of ammonia began to rise in pockets. To their credit only a small percentage of the Hufflepuff student body actually peed themselves in fear. House of the Loyal they may be but at least their survival instincts, prominent by the fact their House animal was a damn badger, were sharp enough to dodge the pitfall that the Gryffindor idiots created for themselves as stunners were fired in-synch at every dark corner from trembling pale red-and-gold clad boys.

"Now now boys, that wasn't very nice!" From the darkness of the ceiling the most beautiful woman nearly everyone, even and especially the secretly gay wizards and witches, had ever seen dropped onto the Gryffindor infested table. Shock white hair fell to her hips, perfect alabaster skin gave her almost otherworldly shine, bright but criminally insane silvery-blue eyes reflecting a sense of psychotic mirth and especially busty for appearing to be in her mid twenties- she'd be the wet dream of all the young wizards and witches if it wasn't the dangerously long knife buried in the skull of a redheaded boy who was obviously dead. With the hilt of the knife flush with the boys top half of his skull and the dual sharpened, dual serrated edges stained red from the protruding flesh under his jaw she would have been surprised if he wasn't dead. "Well well well, the first soul is mine it seems. Gluttony, attempted murder, envy, jealousy.. Such delicious dark emotions." Licking her lips like the ghostly white ball escaping the boys dead lips were the most delicious thing she'd seen, her mouth opened absurdly wide and sucked it in. Not unlike a snake swallowing a bird egg whole, she gulped and swallowed the soul slowly savoring the sins infusing her person with energy.

The sound of kids retching filled the hall as all the schools staff, Hogwarts and their foreign guests, drew their wands in a flash.

"That's enough Riddle, you've had your fun. The Ringmaster needs your help setting up the tent and feeding the Hell Hounds. The bitch and her puppies tore the help limb from limb. Again. I am not reanimating the corpses again for your laziness to become my annoyance."

An artic breeze filled the room as a second figure appeared from thin air as if summoned. He was nearing twenty by visual guess, his height and his rather well muscled physique giving the hints, with an aura around his person that reeked of danger like the woman. His hair was soul sucking obsidian black with bright blood red streaks, dark green eyes like putrid necrotic flesh, what appeared to be an x-shaped scar covering the skin on over and under the right eye and what appeared to be a dusky complexion at first glance but was really a light tan after his form seemed to settle on the table beside the deranged woman he called Riddle. Dressed in skin tight black leather trousers, a black tank top, biker jacket and riding boots he had the whole 'I-don't-give-a-fuck-about-what you-think' look going.

"Come on Milenko, that bitch hates me!" Riddle whined as she ripped her knife out of the corpse. The shower of blood staining her dress, if the skimpy paper thin material could be called a 'dress', covered the surrounding students.

While the two figures had their argument, it was one sided on behalf of the woman called Riddle while the man called Milenko seemed wholly bored, Dumbledore froze internally even as he and the school staff drew their wands on the pair. There was no way that this person, the woman that was, was who he thought she was. Tom would never be reborn into a female body. Tom would never show the kind of deference to another considering his ego. Tom had, to his knowledge, never learned anything of Soul Magic beyond making Horcruxes. Yet, for all of those reasons circling his mind he couldn't help the niggling thought that it could be one of Tom's minions trying to ensnare the young man. "Who are you and how did you get here?" he demanded, the Elder Wand disillusioned to look like his natural wand bought from Ollivander's nearly a century ago, with the wand switching point between the two persons.

"Riddle, I will tear out half of your liver and drown the nearest fleshbag with your blood if you don't listen to me." Milenko's eye gave a barely perceptible twitch as his eyes narrowed. "Just because you can't die does not mean I can't make your immortal life as anguish filled as possible while you choose to tour with the circus" he said, words edged with malicious warning.

Riddle, deciding that cowardice was the better part of valor, disappeared into thin air.

"Spineless pain slut" Milenko said as his eyes rolled in their sockets. "You can call me Milenko, everyone does. As for how we got here, it's quite simple. We were invited by someone here obviously. The Carnival cannot enter magical grounds unbidden. Now what I have to wonder is by whom and why. I was having the best of times in the bayous of Louisiana in the American south. So many gullible humans willing to part ways with their 'immortal God protected' soul for the chance to see their future.." The sigh that escaped his lips was wistful as it was contemptuous and snide.

Dumbledore's eyes narrowed at the last comment. "No one invited your dark magic abomination to these hallowed grounds!"

Milenko's eyebrow shot up into his hair."Magical grounds and hallowed at the same time? I'm much more tempted to desecrate it now than I already was before" he said with a devilish, almost borderline sinister smile on his lips. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a greasy haired man with a permanent scowl draw a secondary wand from a disillusioned holster strapped to his left forearm. Before the man could do anything he raised his hand and a dark-purple-almost-black spell escaped his fingers and impacted the grease balls chest in less than a blink. For a moment nothing happened and the wand drawn morons seemed on the verge of attacking him. Then, as if by the microscopic degree of the Earth's rotation, the man began to violently vomit blood; obsidian black blood. Even as the man doubled over in unbridled agony and the very visible popping of his vertebrae stretched his skin Milenko retained the sinister smile.

One of the red and gold clad Gryffindor kids, a Seventh Year and Head Boy for the current academic year, shuddered shielding the First Years under the table. "How did that..that freak and his freak friends get in here? The Goblet summoned the name of Harry Potter!"

Milenko froze for a moment as nearly a dozen curses impacted him sending him flying into the back wall. "Did someone say this artifact of yours summoned that poor sap Potter? That itty bitty little twerp whose soul we fed to the chimeras because he wouldn't shut the fuck up about 'evil this' and 'light that'?" he asked pulling himself from the pile of masonry.

Rage erupted across the Hogwarts staff faces, particularly Dumbledore's, and the entirety of Gryffindor table.

"His soul didn't make for a proper between performance snack for the filthy beast." Maniacal gleam filled Milenko's eyes as he brushed himself off and, with a dismissive wave of his hand, seemed to summon his spilt blood back into his body. "Though now that I understand more fully, let me do a full and proper introduction. I am called Milenko, mad mage of The Dark Carnival and resident exile of Shangri-La. Only survivor and practitioner of the ancient arts once taught in the halls of Shangri-La before its destruction. Master Necromancer and" putrid green eyes gleamed darkly "current incarnation of the One True Lord of the Dead and the Damned. Otherwise, the runt formerly known as Harry James Potter."

Looks of sheer horror froze the entire room as the windows of the hall shattered all at once raining glass down on everyone.

"As the Masters once said, Laotom. It has begun bitches, welcome to the nightmare." Before anyone could stop him, not that the adults didn't try, Milenko was gone in a waft of smoke.

Three simultaneous thuds, four if you counted the dead body of the boy who'd been stabbed through the head, were heard as three bodies fell to the floor in shock.

Just who were these three unconscious people you might ask? That was a relatively simple answer to figure out; James, Lily and Rosalind 'Rose' Potter.


	2. Chapter 2

"You're enjoying yourself _Harry._"

From his perch on his chairs overstuffed arm Milenko lifted an eyebrow. Momentarily lifting his gaze from the esoteric text a hand was flippantly waved at the person daring to speak. He wasn't surprised to see it was Riddle and rolled his eyes even as the young woman was clutching her throat trying to breathe. "Call me that again bitch, I dare you" he said with a challenging yet dark look in his eyes. "The artifact tells me everything I _need _to know why we are here. An abomination of magic, not on The Carnival levels but really close, designed by non-Siren blooded witches trying to recreate the affect of a Siren's allure."

"_Har..Harder. Choke me harder daddy!" _

Harry scowled at the gasped retort. "It's no fun when you enjoy it bitch." A second dismissive wave of his hand dropped Riddle to her knees gasping for air as the signs of bruises in the shape of hands began forming on either side of her throat. "What I need to figure out is a set of things. Number A-"

"A is not a number." The large tome banished into Riddle's stomach vanished the air from her lungs with a violent impact expulsion. "Shu-shutting up" she wheezed holding her stomach tenderly.

"As I was saying, Number A is who put my name in this bastardized relic? I mean B+ for effort but the fact that the people in charge are using this artifact as a means of selecting tournament champions for what amounts to lethal blood sport without knowing the history behind the artifact in question _should _be concerning. For them that is" Milenko said with a flippant tone. Marking the page in the tome in his hands and slamming it shut his eyes looked thoughtful. "Number B, what is their design behind ensuring my name would emerge from the artifact? The person in question is a pawn or slave at best. No master manipulator would do the dirty deed themselves and endanger their own magical essence when there are ways to cheat out of this so called 'binding magical contract'. Of course, the moment that I do break it, the person who _did_ put my name in will die. Their magical trace is on the parchment after all, not mine. Using that _mundane_ trash is the last thing I would consider doing under _**any **_circumstance."

Riddle took a reclined seat against the wood siding with a carefulness seen only in the heavily pregnant or extremely ill. Being immortal was all well and good but being able to live forever _**did not**_ take away your sense of physical pain.

"Number D.."

How did Riddle miss what was possibly going to earn her another wound? Of course in the long run it would only bring her pleasure in one form or another but fuck all did it really hurt in the short, immediate aftermath. "What about Letter Five?" she asked slowly.

"There is not Letter Five you daft cow. Did all the substance go to your chest and ass?" Milenko asked with a hybrid scowl-sneer that would put the devil to shame. He went to continue on when he stiffened as if struck by a full body bind. He couldn't sense the source immediately, a frustrating enough irritant, but it was the whispered chant on the wind that brought a spark of panic, real and truly genuine panic, to his necrotizing green colored eyes.

_"May he be blessed in your name great spirit mother.  
__Love he was never shown  
__Peace he has never known  
__Life he had lived alone  
__Bless him with wife an-"_

An ebony blade pierced the air and stabbed into an unseen creature. For a split second the tent was dead silent til a winged form was uncloaked from whatever spell had hidden and fell to the ground dead. A feral snarl tore from Milenko's lips as he stabbed the corpse repeatedly soaking the ground in blood and bone shards. "I **hate** meddlesome fae!" The rage in his tone could spark fire as he tore the knife from the dead creature and callously wiped the blood from his blade.

Riddle wisely did not comment on the moment of panic that the dead creature sparked in the other. Milenko's violent temper eclipsed the rest of the carnivals dark spirits combined and had, how he managed it was beyond her, murdered the last true immortal before she joined the carnival. Just that knowledge was enough to put the fear of Milenko into her yet at the same time her masochistic side couldn't help licking its metaphysical chops with lust.

_****Somewhere in Hogwarts**  
**_  
Within the confines of the library a set of eyes snapped open as a figured chuckled. "Murdered my little messenger huh mad mage? That wasn't very nice to do." Flipping long hair from their face they collected a set of books, some parchment with a half written essay on the importance of the moons position in regards to some rituals and a messenger bag the figure began to leave for their dorm. "Perhaps my next messenger should be a little more direct."

"Susan! It's nearly curfew!"

The newly named Susan took a moment to blow a rebellious strand of red hair from her eyes. "Calm down Hannah, I'll be there in a moment. Had to make sure everything was sorted in my bag." Dark blue eyes rolled in their sockets before she smirked to herself feeling a spike of magic she knew was in the direction of the Headmaster's office. No doubt Dumbledore and the Potter's, all three of them that is, were strategizing to 'save' the lost son from the carnival he apparently called home now. "Good luck with that, evil like his is not extinguished with gushy sentiment or some crocodile tears" she said to herself before catching up with her friend Hannah. Perhaps calling Hannah a 'friend' was laying it on thick but the benefits that came with having the girl on side was worth tolerating her.

"It's about time slow poke! Mrs. Norris is starting to prowl the halls" Hannah whined shifting her bag to her other shoulder and began pushing her fellow Puff back toward the common room by the kitchen.

_****Headmasters Office; same time as Milenko murdering the fairy and the Puffs leaving the library****_

"We have to get Harry away from those.. Those freaks!"

Dumbledore rubbed his temples as this was roughly the tenth time James had circled back to this particular point. While he understood James and Lily's frantic desire to be free Harry from the dark influence that 'carnival' was, there was much to give him pause. Between Harry, he refused to call the boy Milenko by any means, being older than he should and his behavior he had one gigantic task to handle. That level of violence, casual offhand violence, was beyond what he had seen from Voldemort when he was still Head Boy Tom Riddle. Even if he could overlook those two things, which he _could not_, there was the fact Harry was practicing magic forbidden by the Wizengamot and the ICW. Soul Magic and Necromancy were labelled as Black Magic- Darker than Dark Magic bordering on Taboo Magic- for very good reason!

"James, I sympathize and want it just as bad as you but coming back to using that revolting term makes you no better than my sister or her mutant husband." It was a low blow on Lily's part but she despised the word 'freak' in all contexts and connotation. She'd been called one by Petunia enough growing up that her hatred of the word and the fact James, love of her life, was using it was tempting her to hex him.

James froze momentarily in his pacing.

"He can't be saved. Not like you want him to be saved" Rosalind said with a expressionless tone. Under the eyes of her parents and the Headmaster the girl didn't flinch or squirm. "Everyone here knows I have the gift to read auras like my friend Luna." This was stated with fact as she held up a hand to cut off anyone from interrupting her. "His aura was black as black can be. There was no light whatsoever, only malice and a hunger for violence. If you want to save him, you'll have to kill him and that is not a course of action I'd recommend" she said with a grave expression taking over her face. "I could be wrong but there was something else lurking in his aura. A magical construct, something like a serpent I think, but it... it's cursed and intertwined with his soul & magical core."

Dumbledore's skin blanched at what Rosalind said. Magical constructs were not unheard of but for one to be intertwined with a persons core and soul? That was something unheard of since the time of the Hogwarts Founders. Having a magical construct like that was the mark of what was called, back then at least, a True Witch or True Warlock. He could count on one hand the number of True Witches and True Warlocks in the modern age & they were all monitored by the ICW since it was known a True Witch or True Warlock were dangerously unstable. "You are certain of this Rosalind?" he asked gravely.

"No sir but it _appeared _so. Something was in his aura and it was alive in a sense but it was purely magic born" the girl said frowning deeply.

* * *

Over the next few days Milenko tortured the fairy spirit until it coughed up the fact it was summoned to deliver the message from a Hogwarts student. Once he had that fact he crushed the spirit of the fairy and corrupted the magic before absorbing it into his own. Message? What had been partially relayed was no message but _White Binding Magic_! Given how warped he was in all regards, _White Magic_ of **any **kind was lethal to him! If he ever found who sent the fairy in an attempt to do what they wanted he'd flay they alive one layer of skin at a time with a Fiendfyre whip!

"Milenko, we need to talk."

Necrotizing green eyes looked up spotting the Ringmaster. The man looked to be in his late thirties or early forties, notwithstanding the man was in very good physical shape unlike some humans he knew, though he knew the man practiced sacrificial magic to remain young & was well over three hundred years old. Dark brown borderline black hair topped his head contrasting his lightly tanned skin and pale blue eyes. Dressed every inch for his role in the carnival, a three piece suit with long coat tails, a top hat, cane depicting a roaring lions head and pointed shoes, he looked like a walking circus stereotype. "What about Ringmaster? I was about to go tempt a few dumb mortals to enter our humble slice of hell" he said with a slow drawl as he brushed his clothes, a simple pair of slacks covered by a blood red shirt with ruffled sleeves and a vest, of some imaginary dust.

"About that little near introduction of _White Magic _into **my **circus you stupid boy."

Milenko growled darkly as soul searing black flames erupted around his hands. "It was not my doing. Some idiot child in the citadel over there sent a fae with it as a 'message' to me. When, not if but when, I find the responsible party they will **_wish_** I killed them by the time I am finished" he said with a vicious cruelty turning his eyes nearly black.

Ringmaster said nothing for a long moment as if scrutinizing Milenko. "Make it so boy. If you fail, well I suggest you don't. You remember **_last time_** you failed and displeased me?" he said thought the 'asked' question was more of a rhetorical statement. Not giving Milenko a moment to answer he turned on heel and left the mages tent baking out orders at the other members of The Dark Carnival and the help.

Milenko snarled and was so tempted to utterly crush the soul of the Ringmaster but stopped himself. Not out of respect mind you but rather the carnivals existence would persist only as long the mans soul was intact. A Ringmaster with no soul means no Dark Carnival. No Dark Carnival means he has to hunt humans on his own and no one wants that since he would, most likely, massacre entire counties without care & without thought of how much attention he drew to himself as a True Warlock or the fact magic **actually **was real. Tamping down the urge harshly he stalked out toward the castle, hands still aflame, and punched the first person in the face who chose to speak to him.

It was unfortunate, depending on who you ask, that person happened to be a giant of a man with a beard who tried to molest him while saying something about Headmaster Dumbledore demanding he appear before him.

The smell of burnt flesh and hair as the giant of a man burnt alive was sweet to Milenko. Even as students of the school tried to put the fire out with various water based spells, all they did was make it exacerbate the problem. Within minutes the man was a burnt corpse as the last dregs of pitch black flame consumed the mans magical core and leapt back to Milenko absorbing the magic for himself. "You made the wrong move touching me _half-breed_." Spitting on the corpse as the young people scatted he moved on towards where the most logical, for the moment anyway, point of gathering for students was- the giant ass lake.

**_**The Black Lacke**_**

Perched against the trunk of an old Beech tree a blonde witch hummed to herself. Dressed rather oddly in a tye dye blouse, purple and wearing radishes for earrings she was rather odd to say the least. Looking down to her sketch pad on her lap she furrowed her brow erasing a part of the landscape that wasn't quite right and redrew it quickly. "You took your time getting here Mad Mage" she said after stopping her humming suddenly.

Milenko raised an eyebrow as the solitary witch addressed him yet did not look in his direction from what she was doing. "And what makes you think I came here on purpose little girl?" he asked with a somewhat amused tone.

"You can't bullshit a True Witch. You should know that too well, True Warlock" the girl said still not looking at Milenko. "Of course, you chose to curse your construct as a nuclear option. Mine is to curse others."

Milenko's eyebrow raised further at the declaration. "No, I suppose I can't. Truth be told I came here looking to find idiots to trick out of their souls, not another like myself though I did sense you when I was rudely summoned here against my will."

"That will be far from easy to do. The Headmaster and his minions won't allow you or your travelling companions alone with those they deem of value. Everyone whose smart knows to leave me the hell alone or risk an accident." Setting her sketch book aside she turned her gaze to look at the young man. "You'd do well to keep away from your vessels birth family too. They're planning to purge you of the corruption that has altered you to bring back Harry Potter the boy; the Headmaster is planning to help them is also obvious."

Milenko scowled a tiny fraction. "And they'll fail before dying in agonizing pain" he said with an assertive dark tone.

"I know. The only sensible one is Rosalind" the witch said with a shrug.

"Rosalind?" Milenko asked. "Harry Potter had no siblings."

"She was born a year after Harry Potter disappeared. I believe a surplus of alcohol and grief was involved on the parts of James and Lily Potter."

Milenko tapped his fingers together thoughtfully for a moment. Wasn't that something to chew on? His vessel had a blood sibling and.. He'd think on that later since this was a situation that could be exploited in so many ways. "What is name witch?" he asked.

"Luna Lovegood, True Witch of Natural Magic" the blonde witch said as she stood, early afternoon sunlight reflecting off her silver-blue eyes.

"A Wild Witch huh? I haven't seen one of your kind for four centuries" Milenko said rolling his wrist and conjured a spear. Without any motion from him the spear launched into the air and cleaved through an owls head killing it as it tried to race to the Headmasters office.

"If you wish to use the archaic title, yes I am." Luna looked somewhat amused as she outstretched a hand and the grass beneath it seemed to grow of its own accord like it was a child seeking to grasp its mothers hand.

Milenko tapped on his wrist before a smirk etched onto his lips as an idea formed. Pulling a flier from nowhere he held it out toward Luna and made a theatrical rolling gesture of his free hand. "How would you like to see the Carnival Ms. Lovegood? The first trip is on me."

Luna pondered for a moment before accepting the flier and gave it a look over. "A girl might think you have uncouth intentions Mr. Milenko" she said with a coquettish teasing tone.

"Now what makes you think of that?"

"I never said I was opposed. Shall we?" Luna asked.

If anyone had noticed the two walking away, Luna's arm wrapped one of Milenko's, they would've trembled as the very earth under Milenko's feet turned black and the plant life in Luna's wake took on demonic thorns.

* * *

**A/N: So another chapter with setup done and I can't be happier for it. What role will Susan play? What are the Potters, James and Lily, along with Dumbledore planning? What _would_ the _White Magic_ have done to Milenko if he hadn't killed the fairy and where did Susan learn it? What part does Luna have to play in this lunacy?**

**So many questions, so few answers...for you my readers right now.**

**Before ANYONE says it, Luna's behavior towards Milenko/Harry DOESN'T mean I'm pair him with her. His partner is up in the air still. Just because she not as Canon-behavior doesn't mean I wasn't going to keep some of the things that make Luna, well Luna. Her airy-ness will still be present, she will still know things most don't etc. **


	3. Chapter 3

"What are you drinking?"

Milenko's eyes peered over the spine of his ancient tone to where, much to his amusement, Luna was peering up at him; his position being lounged on a cushion of air six feet off the topmost surface of the tables in the middle of the Great Hall. While many were more than happy to leave him be, Luna was not and he knew specifically why. During his guided, not to mention protected, tour of the Dark Carnival she'd been too happy to answer any and all questions he asked her. Being a True afforded him a seemingly instant trusted status, something he thought foolish but something he could use to his advantage. "_Blood_. Human blood. Female. Virgin. Fifteen years old, murdered in the last riot that broke out in Louisiana prior to the Carnivals abrupt departure."

Horrified gasps rose around the hall, none more so than the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables.

"Shame too, a few more years and her blood would have matured like a fine wine. Alas, it's barely sweeter than a cherry cream filled candy" Milenko lamented with a sigh. "Why do you ask Moon Child?"

Luna tilted her head slightly, not unlike a curious animal, as if considering the question. "Curiosity I suppose. Very few liquids have the red hue. Not to mention the iron rich smell" she said with a shrug of her slender shoulders. "Why call me Moon Child? I am not blessed by the Praetor or his mate and neither am I one of the Morrigan's Chosen."

Milenko smiled a thin lipped smirk as he readjusted his text. "The Praetor is a joke, his mate not so much, and if you were blessed by the Morrigan you would have been executed by your sham Ministry the moment they found out." His answer came in a snarky toned scoff. "Your attitude and nature lends itself to the Changelings and the Fair Folk. Reclusive kin of the night who dance by the light of the moon. Of course, there are other reasons related to our conversation while I led you around the Carnival grounds. Surely you remember that enlightening little talk?" he asked rhetorically.

Rosalind's eyebrows furrowed while the students around her, being the Ravenclaws that they were, cast subtle charms to let them listen in. For the life of her she couldn't understand why Luna of all people was so seemingly unfazed by the obvious wrongness of Milenko. A moment later she had to amend her thought as next to nothing seemed to ever faze Luna. Ever.

"Of course I remember. Do you think me a cretin?" Luna asked, genuinely offended now. "It's not like there's anything wrong me. By comparison standards anyways."

Rosalind couldn't help herself and had to add her nosy two cents in. "Compared to who Luna?" she asked.

Luna looked at Rosalind with a blank expression and weighing the scales, metaphorically speaking of course, of telling the redhead the truth versus what she probably expected to hear. She opted to go with the former. "Like your narrow minded, short sighted parents for starters" she said bluntly.

Milenko snorted in amusement as the emerald eyed redhead sputtered indignantly. "Let the poisoned think as they do Moon Child. If they suckle at the teat of their poisoners for too long it's only wasted breath attempting to try explaining anything to them" he said before cancelling the spell that let him hover over the table on thin air and fall.

Several kids scrambled to get out of the way of the inevitable scattered foodstuffs and broken plates but gasped as the body seemed to melt into nothingness like a shadow in light as it touched the very tip of a standing carving knife stuck into a turkey.

"Where'd he go?!"

"Dark Magic!"

The bleating of the ignorant made Luna's mood darken instantly. "Shut up! Just because Dumbledore and the Ministry calls anything that doesn't fit their definition of light magic does not make anything Dark Magic!" she snapped, her tone shutting up everyone around her as their jaws went slack. Her patience was legendarily high, one might say near limitless, but that patience was severely tested as of late with the way the Headmaster and the Potters- sans Rosalind for reasons Luna had yet to ascertain- had been trying to entrap Milenko. It wasn't that she assumed the sorcerer incapable of getting himself out of any sticky situation, he was a centuries old sorcerer with more arcane knowledge than the Headmaster and the Potter Lord & Lady combined, but a part of her was rubbed the wrong way at the mere idea the sorcerer might meet an unfavorable fate. "The magic he used is called Phasing and it's a widely used**_ elemental travel-magic_** by the main magical countries the globe over from the Americas and Europe proper all the way to the Asiatics. It's the same as Apparition without the Ministry of Magic or its equivalent being able to extort money from you for a license to use travel magic." Stabbing her knife into the table, a rather violent stabbing motion that was another shock to those around her, she left the hall in a huff.

Up at the staff table James Potter watched the blonde Ravenclaw storm out of the hall. While the young girl was correct about the magics name and it being a widely used- outside of Britain that is- form travel-magic, she was wrong about one thing. The roots of Phasing were based in combat orientated elemental magic. If one were so inclined to dig through tomes upon tomes, they'd find the history of the elemental magic was steeped in blood and death during times of war. "We should keep an eye on her. For Rose's sake" he said with a sideward glance to his wife Lily, the newly elected Muggle Studies Professor.

"I was thinking the same thing" Lily said while scribbling something down on scrap of parchment at a furious pace. Between the formulae and runic symbols being scribbled at breakneck speed her mind was working a mile a second trying to devise a ritual or spell that would purify her eldest child's body of the malefic presence inhabiting it. There was no way her baby boy's soul was devoured by a monster and gone forever! She refused to believe that!

* * *

Situated within his tent Milenko stroked his chin with silent thought. He'd thought the attempts to entrap him were rather weak considering all he'd done so far. The biggest thing was his murdering the half-breed without so much as blinking. Murder was something he had perfected over the near millenia he'd been alive but the half-breed had been important to the white haired Merlin wannabe. Or so he thought at least. The moronic waste of flesh was dull but his size and muscle mass would have leant the man as a physical asset in confrontation. "Then there are the failures" he muttered to himself as a flick of his fingers summoned a bottle of 1926 single malt scotch whiskey to his himself.

Oh the Potter patriarch and matriarch, they were quick becoming pains in his side. He had anticipated they'd become thorns to his movements from the moment Luna had filled him in on just what the pair had been up to. First there was the reward offer circulated amongst the Gryffindors, 'red wearing imbeciles' had been Luna's succinct description of the headstrong young people, that had almost the entirety of their quidditch team try to stun him. They failed tremendously though the fact that the three girls he heard referred to as The Flying Foxes didn't attempt it. _Perhaps_ there was a microscopic semblance of intelligence in the castle beyond Luna.

A snort left him as he dismissed the foolish notion and took back a tumbler full of the scotch down in one go. "Inferior wastes of magics don't have any sort of intelligence." Pouring another tumbler he opened one of his many portals, thank all Black Magic Sources he had the foresight to unload all the tomes in his possession to his tent before killing his last host and taking over the brat that was Harry Potter & resealing them in the pocket dimension spell he learned from the Shangri-La masters, to extract the Parseltongue Grimoire of Salazar Slytherin. It'd been a pain in the ass to acquire given his numerous attempts to murder the bastard when the witch hunts were commonplace but so worth it end when he stood over the mans corpse with possession of his treasured Grimoire. Much more so when he discovered that his new body host was a parselmouth therefore making him able to utilize the magics trapped inside. "How to best torture male muggles... How torture muggle children without breaking their minds completely... Boring! Lucifer's tiny amoeba sized dick, this is what Salazar Slytherin was so keen to protect? I've seen better magics out of a beginning Voodoo Priest than this shit!"

Outside of the tent where the mage was lamenting idiotic excuses for sorcerers and burning their lives work, Riddle prowled the grounds with a fierce scowl. There was absolutely no business at all and it was making her bored to he- "Hello boys." Her scowl turned into a seductive kind of smirk as he noticed a pair of boy, two redheads who looked to be brothers if not twins, lingering at the entrance to the place the carnival planted itself. "Have you come all this way to see what lies in the _real _realms of magic?" she asked with a coquettish flutter of eyelashes.

The first of the redheads consulted with the other in hushed tones while wearily eyeing the seductive monster. While she had _technically _murdered their brother, their youngest male sibling was no big loss. His fears were utterly stupid, who _really_ gets scared of spiders that bad over a **prank **of all things, and his aptitude for magic was in the toilets. "Not for that..Milenko guy but we were curious" he said choosing his words carefully. The oppressive aura of this place wasn't quite heavy but something told him that saying the wrong thing could be a death sentence.

"Milenko is a fuddy duddy anyway. Always so serious and blah blah bla-"

A sound akin to a gunshot echoed through the grounds before a massive hole opened up in one side of her neck, extended through her throat and spine before opening though the other.

The two redheads blanched whiter than white as a geyser of blood shot and drenched the front of their robes red. One fainted almost immediately after leaving the other to flee dragging the other as best as they could.

Riddle gurgled steadying her body against the nearest solid object, a tree in this case, before her body began to regenerate. Her spine between the base of her skull and shoulder formed first before muscles & sinew followed soon followed with her voice box. Not moments later windpipe was good as new and her skin was flawless like she'd never been injured to begin with. A sightless middle finger was thrown at the direction of Milenko's tent since she knew he was the source of the magical projectile to turn her throat and neck into bloody pulp therefore scaring off customers. He was far too sensitive to her comments if she said so herself.

"Not even if you were that human birth compatible cunt in the universe" was the reply from Milenko's tent.

"What about me?"

Riddle turned on the spot and saw a blonde girl half in the entrance to Milenko's tent. Blonde hair, blue-silver eyes- oh, it was _that _girl Milenko showed around before. The oddball that reminded her of a mean-spirited fae under facade of being kind... Wait, how in the hell did she get there?!

"I'm many things, chief amongst those being a Necromancer, but I am _**not **_a _pedophile_. I have **some **standards and morals, very few that some would say they are near nonexistent, but I _do_ have some" Milenko could be heard as Luna entered into his tent.

Then there was nothing for almost ten minutes. Complete silence. Riddle, being one of the duller and slower members of the Dark Carnival, decided to peek in to see if Milenko killed the girl. That was a mistake. As soon as the flap to the tent was opened three knives impact her body sending her flying back-center one in her newly regenerated throat, one into her left eye sock and the last piercing her chest where her heart was located.

"Nice shot for a beginner" Milenko commented popping his head out and looking to the twitching form of Riddle.

"I was aiming for between her eyes to be perfectly frank. Being nice to the idiot, narrow minded masses and not being able to act on the violent impulses to hurt them has put my aim off" Luna said candidly popping her own out. "Good thing she's immortal right?" she asked rhetorically.

"I haven't found a way to kill her. Yet" Milenko said pulling Luna's head back into the tent. "I've burned her at the stake with religious talismans binding her powers. I've put her through an exorcism with the Pope as the exorcist, not my favorite week of my life mind you. I've conducted satanic rituals and force fed her soul to demons in Hell. Nothing has worked so far. My next step is to invoke the Primal Gods and see if one of them might find her appetizing. Or at least worthy of a chew toy."

"Have you tried to summon the likes of Cthulu and his kin? I heard they had more than a few messed up god-like deities and demons who used the soul as a snack and things to mess with for their personal amusement."

"If only you were older."

* * *

Over the course of the next three weeks leading up to the week before the First Task it was near impossible for anyone from Hogwarts to locate one Luna Lovegood. Not for a lack of trying though, especially from the Potter Lord and Lady. Rosalind's concern for her friend skyrocketed as Luna's calm and airy personality became more edgy over time. Just the memory of her tiny slip of a friend _viciously __backhand _their House team Seeker for a slight insult made her shudder. Her mother had always said it was the quiet ones you had to keep an eye on...

"You fuckers are pathetic you know that?"

Which led them to this point in time, Milenko tied to a rune inscribed chair with iron chains spelled to be unbreakable. "It's going to be fine son, you'll be rid of the parasite as soon as your mother powers up the ritual" James Potter said pacing outside the rim of the complex ritual circle. "We'll be a family again soon enough."

Milenko turned his head a near complete three hundred and sixty degrees to give a blank unreadable expression to the 'elder' wizard. "I thought I made it clear your sons soul no longer exists on this plane of existence" he said blandly. "Or are you so fucking inbred that you have no connection between your sense of hearing and what little grey matter exists in the neandertha-"

Without breaking her concentration in charging the ritual circle she struck Milenko across the face.

Instead of recoiling or making a pained sound Milenko chuckled darkly as he spit out some blood as he turned his head back to the proper position. "_That hurt_ _mother_" he said in a mockingly 'hurt' tone. "_Why, I just might report this abuse to the authorities._"

Instead of rising to the bluff Lily finished charging the last rune before the room was flooded with near blinding amount of white light.

Pain wracked Milenko's body as he thrashed against the iron chains trying to escape. Crack-like veins erupted along the flesh of his arms before the first and only howl of rage erupted from his lips. White Magic was like poison to entities like him but unlike others he had more than a handful of tricks to nullify it. Out of the palm of his left hand a pitch black emerged. Crushing it with a spasm of his muscles the ritual magic became tainted and turned pitch black as the ground of the room cracked open under the Potter's and closed around their necks to keep them from being swallowed whole by the earth.

Rosalind was sweating profusely thinking this was where she was going to die.

The shattering of metal and wood signaled Milenko's freedom as he fell to one knee panting with rage and short spasms of receding pain. "I should kill you three where you lay trapped" he growled rising to his feet slowly. A snap of his fingers had the tainted magic condense into a black orb the size of a marble before he swallowed it and let the magic flow through him. "Or at the very least rape your daughter in front you so her anguish is burned into your retinas."

Rosalind blanched with fear as James and Lily went whiter than white. She hadn't wanted to be part of this to begin with! She told them how foolish it was to try anything against Milenko!

"But I am not going to do that. Not because my host body shares blood and rape is wrong.. Blah blah blah, petty morals of the mindless slave who needs a master to beat them so they follow orders like good chattel" Milenko continued as he gave Lily a solid punt to jaw and knocked out several of her teeth. "Mainly because I'm pressed for time and I have something far more interesting in mind. Interesting for me at least." A sinister cheshire smile spread across his lips as he produced a wicked looking serrated knife from his coats inner pocket.

Rosalind Potter's scream of agony would be heard throughout the entirety of Hogwarts followed by Milkenko's demented laughter overshadowing the death threats being screamed by the Potter parents.

* * *

"So, did I miss anything?"

Dumbledore and the other residents of the classroom, those being gnome of a man, the other champions and their school representatives, jumped in surprise. "I was about to send someone to find you Mr. Pot-"

"Names Milenko faggot. Just because I inhabit the body does not mean I don't know things about everyone. Like you and your sexual escapades with Grindelwald in your youth before the last British Wizarding War before the reign of Voldemort." The shark like smirk on Milenko's could make a great White envious as almost everyone's eyes shot to Dumbledore's rigidly stiff form, wand clenched tight in his hands. "Ah but on the subject of Potter's, I was held up _by _them. Idiot slaves never think for themselves. So this tournament thing, what is it? I have things to do" he said leaning against the nearest wall by the blonde French witch.

The gnome of a man cleared his throat tearing all attention to himself. "Ahem, I was about to get to that. I am Garrick Ollivander, the foremost expert wand crafter and wand-historian of this current age. Before the first obstacle of the tournament takes place your wands must be examined and-"

Milenko tried to cover his snicker behind a hand but failed horribly. "Wand? You're fucking with me right? You fuck nuts still need a fucking wooden dildo to do magic?!" The snicker evolved into full on hysterical laughter. "Lucifer's left fucking nut, you fuckers are pathetic if you need that shit. Demons and abominations below, you just made my day." Wiping a single full on laughter tear he melted into the masonry as he said one thing to make Ollivander go rigid as a beam. "Who needs a pissant second-rate wand when you inhabit the body of the last surviving blood worthy deemed Peverell? It's only a matter of time before The Death Stick comes back to its rightful owner."

Cedric, Fleur and Krum exchanged glances that were equal parts confused and weary. "Mr. Ollivander, if we can move on" the brown haired Hufflepuff said trying to nudge the older man from whatever had scared him so.

Ollivander shook his head, almost violently so, before nodding and rushed through the examinations and declared them fit for use in the tournament. As soon as he was done he made a beeline for the closest door. He needed to get out before that... that demon did something! _'I don't know what you did Albus but that _**thing **_is no longer human!'_ he thought frantically making his way towards the edge of the Hogwarts. Too bad he wouldn't make it that far.

"Now now Ollivander, _you have a debt to pay!_" The metallic _sching _of metal cutting through air lasted only a moment before a knife impacted the back of the mans skull. The sickening squelch of brain matter and blood splattering the ground as the tip of the blade pierced _through _his preys forehead had Milenko smirk as he watched corpse fall lifelessly at the base of a tree. With a grisly mockery of an upbeat whistle he grabbed a leg and dragged the corpse, in its final death spasm, toward the carnival area.

He had a puppet to make.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: So yeah, I know the next update _should be_ The End of the World as we know it but I'm not happy with what I have so far and this was already done so... yeah. **BUT!** It _will _be the next thing to go up I promise!

Notes:

"Normal speech"

_'Thoughts'_

_"Parseltongue/foreign language"_

**_**Scene transition to new place**_**

* * *

Milenko hummed thoughtfully as he thrummed his fingers together. Turning the corpse of Garrick Ollivander into a puppet was short work even if a bit rushed to preserve the magical core from disappearing. For his puppet to be perfection he needed it to not only be capable of _casting magic_ but to be able _to siphon it_ from any other living source. A pain in the ass process to be certain _**but **_so worth it in the end. Of course there were those who would try to kill him for his work but between the rituals binding his soul to his current host, the rituals that augmented him physically and magically & the arcane sigils branded into his skin, it'd take someone far older and stronger and well versed in White Magic to even begin to _hurt him_. "Of course I could humor them.." he said to himself after a moment.

"Humor who?"

Milenko flippantly waved his hand at the Jeckel Brothers standing in the entryway to his tent. Jack and Jake were mysteries on one level while another they were almost ironic. Jugglers, ying and yang; two halves of the so called 'balance' of the human soul. Your good deeds and bad deeds given corporeal form before your eyes; one brother defiantly trying to send you to hell by adding more fireballs, more of your sins to be juggled, to the show while the other did his best to get you in Shangri-La. "Not important boys" he said closing his X-marked eye.

"Ringmaster wants to speak to you Milenko" Jack said with a frown. He didn't trust anyone in the circus, he barely trusted his own brother, but he trusted the Ringmaster even less. He had his own private ideas about the 'man' running the show and his dealing with the mad immortal mage. Their careless use of soul magic interfered with their act and Jake's bitching was so not worth those two having their alleged 'fun'.

"Did he say what about? I've barely finished the puppet and I've got this... task tomorrow" Milenko said with a scoff. What could that milennia too young bastard want now? Things were going according to plan so he shouldn't be bothered.

Jake coughed into his fist. "He didn't say anything about why though he made some kind of comment about dragons. Which is just dumb. Dragons are fantasy creatures" the younger of the brothers said.

Milenko sat up sharply hearing that. Dragons? Now that would be interesting. "They might not be as fantasy as you believe Mr. Jeckel. Magic is supposed to be only in the realm of fantasy yet how many times have you seen me mystify the idiots that walk into our slice of Hell on wheels. How many times have I have just about put you in the arms of the Wraith for your trip to Hell's Pit with a wave of my hand from across the carnival?" he asked rhetorically.

Before Jake could answer Milenko was gone in a blink leaving him and his brother alone.

"He's right you know" Jack said as he turned and left back toward their performing tent. The show opened soon and they both needed to change.

"But dragons, seriously? Flying, fire breathing lizards are _not_ real" Jake argued. "I'll eat my own kidney if I'm wrong."

"I'll hold you to that" Jack snorted while shoving his hands into his pants pocket.

**_**RINGMASTER'S TENT**_**

"What did you mean by the dragon comment?" Milenko asked walking into the tent without so much as announcing himself, a rule the Ringmaster put in place but Milenko never paid attention to.

"You didn't announce-"

"I never do and if I had the inclination you would have been dead several times over the last three centuries. _What did you mean by the comment about dragons?_" Milenko hissed, his hands engulfed by black flames. If the comment meant what he thought it did, he needed to dig through his tomes for a certain text he hadn't read in two centuries.

Ringmaster was tempted to snap his fingers to make the petulant mage fall in line but he was not dumb enough to _**actually **_do so. The last time Milenko had done something to displease him, that being steal the souls of an entire county in Texas, he'd taken his displeasure out on the mage. Hadn't that been a mistake as Milenko's retaliation had nearly exsanguinated him from his crucified position on a cross. "I came across some information you might find interesting for the morrow."

"It's a task of bravery against the unknown. You deliberately make a dragon comment that the Jeckel's could hear, probably in the lowest voice barely audible." Milenko looked thoughtful with a furrowed brow though he did not extinguish his blazing hands. If Ringmaster so much as twitched a hand he'd grab the man by the neck and char his flesh just shy of being fatal. "The last time I fought a dragon was after I had just burnt Shangri-La to the ground, stole the magic from the Masters souls and desecrated the grounds by opening a portal to Hell binding the upper echelons of demons to my service." His brow furrowed more. How stupid were these mages of England when history showed dragons were mage killers no matter the breed? Some were fa more dangerous than others, obviously, but that didn't change the fact they were insanely dangerous.

Insanely dangerous for a normal witch or wizard that wasn't Milenko anyway.

"It would be a safe assumption" Ringmaster said simply. His left hand was getting really twitchy now but a force of will stilled it.

Milenko left without a word, his hands only extinguishing once he was away from the darkly flamboyant tent. _'Seems I need to break out that tome after nearly six centuries'_ he thought clasping his hands behind his back.

_****Dumbledore's Office****_

Dumbledore grimaced as he, for what felt like the hundredth time, poured over the scar on Rosalind Potter's face. Not the one left by Voldemort, he already knew about the Horcrux in it and had plans for the girls future, but rather the _other _cursed scar left by Milenko.

The scar left _after _James and Lily tried to purify their sons body of the malicious entity in control of it.

On the surface it was a simple looking scar, a long wicked slash that nearly blinded the girl in her left eye and went all the way down to her chin, but the malice that lingered made sure it was known. Ever since the attack and Milenko's retaliation, he had noticed a startling drop in Rosalind's fine motor skills and a marked dip in her intelligence. Where Rosalind was smart as a whip before, she was slowly but surely become more of a ditz. Where she was formerly almost always found in a book while speaking to friends, she was becoming more and more girly by large increments daily. She was becoming more and more concerned about her appearance than her grades, she was quickly becoming extremely vain and boy obsessed. She didn't even enjoy quidditch anymore and thought it a 'dumb boys game' but 'they look hot covered in sweat when it's done'.

Whatever curse or curses were intertwined into this scar was fast turning the smartest witch to grace Hogwarts since Lily Potter nee Evan's into a completely useless...

"Albus, have you figured anything out? Rose.. Rose asked me what boys found attractive and laughed it off when I said intelligence over any kind of physical traits. I'm really getting worried with her mental faculties diminishing by the day. Before we know it she's going to be as intelligent as a Barbie Doll" Lily said ringing her hands hard enough to cut her nails into her skin and draw blood.

"I have not found the specific curses but I have found the roots of where they come from..and it isn't good news Lily, James."

From her seat Rosalind toyed with her hair looking bored. Merlin, why did her mom and dad have to bring her to talk to the old man? She was more than happy to read her fashion magazine. She saw some really, really, really cute new dragon skin boots she was going to buy come the winter hols.

"There isn't a counter as far as I can tell" Dumbledore said grimly. "Not one we can cast anyway."

James looked at his former mentor incredulously. "What the hell do you mean there isn't a counter curse we can cast that'll cure what's happening to our daughter?!" he demanded in an infuriated tone.

"I don't find any pleasure in saying it James so don't take that tone with me" Dumbledore said crossly with a glare aimed at the Potter patriarch. "The root of the curse is in magics long forgotten to us. I only know how to tell what is because I had to regrettably put down a practitioner of such magic in the last war against Grindelwald during what the muggles believed to be the.. Blitz-kream?"

Lily shot Dumbledore a hard look. "The Blitzkrieg of World War Two? Are you meaning to tell me that World War Two was a large scale memory rewrite to cover up the war against Grindelwald?" she asked with narrowed eyes. She knew as a witch that the Statute of Secrecy had to be maintained but if the second world war was a lie due to obliviation and black water works..

"That's neither here nor there Lily" Dumbledore said sharply. "The curses affecting your daughter are over a millennia old. More common during the Founding Era of Hogwarts but these magics were practiced in The Orient. Degenerative magic to be exact. It works on the mind, the magical core, body and soul.. The only person who can undo the curse is the caster themselves."

* * *

When dawn rolled around Milenko was stood on top of the tallest turret Hogwarts had to offer. As much as he hated it here, one exception aside, he had to admit the view was to kill for. "I _could_ kill but it's so much less satisfying when the prey can't even fight back properly" he lamented with a sigh. A roar caused his head to turn near around a perfect three sixty and narrow his eyes. The jet streams of fire made him scowl. From the auras he felt his scowl deepen in thought. Three of them he could identify right off the bat but the last, the last he could not.

"The view is amazing isn't it, Milenko?"

Milenko's head turned back around to the right position where Luna had somehow snuck up on him and taken a spot beside him staring at the purple-red horizon. "To kill for" he said with a roll of his eyes.

"Sounds delightful" Luna said with a pleasant sort of smile. "Just whom is the victim and can I help?"

"As much as I'm sure you'd be an asset to any murders I could pull off, you'll have to wait. I do have to do this thing today, whatever it may be. All I know is that it will die or be used to amuse myself." Milenko jumped from the turret toward the ground headfirst. Just before making contact with the stone and hard ground he melted into the air. Wizarding apparition was an option but he thought it was too stupid and magic wasteful. Why the current generation of magic users thought Phasing was 'Dark Magic' made him scoff. So it was rooted in combat magic, elemental combat magic to be specific. So what if _one idiot_ used it for nefarious deed. It _did not _make Phasing a 'Dark Magic' sort of arcane practice. He himself was a right bastard with a soul black as tar but even he respected the arcane practice to **_not _**warp it into something unholy.

From her perch Luna sighed dramatically. Milenko was certainly a puzzle to be worked out and provided what she had _seen_ came to pass she would solve his puzzle. It would take some time was all. Returning to her dorm to dress, she needed to dress for the day. What was to come would be entertaining to say the least.

**_**Task Arena**_**

Milenko hummed a dark little melody to himself as he floated in the air above the tent. He had time to kill and not enough people were up for him to scare half to death. "I hate people that are so slow to tasks" he said with a sigh after stopping his humming. Entertaining himself by floating in three hundred and sixty degree circles he contemplated how to go about killing his particular threat involved in the task. Implosion, flaying the scales before shredding every piece of bone and soft tissue with Khan Magic..

"Don't even think about it. If he and his companions are so nonplussed by murder, just imagine what he would do to you for so much as touching him let alone breathing in his general direction. "

Milenko was interrupted from his thoughts as a brunette boy from Hogwarts pushed the french girl into the tent. What had the blonde french been planning to do? How long had he been lost in his thoughts for the other unfortunate souls in this tournament and its governing officials to finally be arriving? Shrugging his shoulders internally and shelving the thought to interrogate the blonde later he focused on his body before letting the magic keeping him suspended stop. Falling _through the material _of the tent was childsplay for a master mage of his caliber, the shock of his sudden appearance spooked the blonde witch and what appeared to be a reporter with her camera man. "Well well... I haven't seen a Veela in.. a long time." His lips twisted just slightly into an unnerving smirk as he breathed in her scent after leaning forward a hair.

Fleur wasn't sure what to make of the action.

"But you aren't fully blooded, not even a fourth from your stench. Your mother laid with mundane filth. Pitiful." Milenko's lips twisted further into an antagonistic cheshire smirk at the immediate aura shift around the blonde witch went from a neutral curious grey to bloody enraged red. "You both were exiled from her coven weren't you? The Matriarchs wouldn't pardon race traitors and their spawn like that; existences like yours are unforgivable sins by their laws. Blights on the proud Veela race. As vain as Vampires and dumber than rabid Werewolves during the full moon" he remarked leaning back with his eyes shining with malice.

Fleur was seconds away from killing the young man in front of her. How _dare_ he say that about her?! Nails changing to talons she went to swing at him, tournament be damned, but the massive hand of her Headmistress caught her wrist.

_"Keep your anger within the rules of the tournament or incur the wrath of the tournaments magic against yourself" _Madame Maxime chastised fleur in french while shooting her own angered looks at Milenko.

A throat clearing caught everyone's. "Now that everyone is here-"

"I was here since after the dawn barely rose over the horizon" Milenko interjected with a stretch of his arms after getting to his feet.

"The first task of the tournament is a task of bravery in the face of the unknown. A test of your mettle in the face of adversity against an adversary you know nothing about" Ludo Bagman said with a displeased look shot at the insane champion who dared to interrupt him. "Inside the bag in my hands are models of the creatures you will have to face out in the arena. Given you are the only female champion Ms. Delacour, you shall pick first."

Fleur stalked forward after snatching her hand back and glaring death at Milenko. He'd pay for the comments he made about her and her mother! Snatching a the first thing she felt in the bag, not mention getting bit in the process, she shifted her glare to a green statuette of a dragon with a wooden placard embossed with the number one on its base.

"A common Welsh Green."

Milenko looked at the other champions as they pulled their own dragons, a Chinese Fireball and Swedish Short-Snout respectively, before Milenko summoned the bag with a flick of his finger and incinerated it with a thought leaving a snarling model to glare at him. _"Imperial Thorn"_ he said with an amused chuckled.

"And for you Mr. Pott-"

Milenko snapped his fingers once and the ludicrously dressed man collapsed in agony as every bone in his legs liquified at the same time. "I forget myself times. You idiots don't know the old tongue of my birth country, what you now call Moscow within Russia. What you call the Hungarian Horntail, we called the Imperial Thorn. A symbol of the King and his legion yet equally a pain in our asses as it ravaged the lands" he said shaking his head. "Since I am the last to go, I think I'll go take a nap. Try not to get yourself killed abomination, you might be a slight against nature according to the Veela covens but I'm sure you'd make a great fluffer for the night. At least you would before your own kind tracks you down and binds your magical abilities so they can shove in a brothel to never see the light of day again."

It took Madame Maxime and all the tournament officials, minus Ludo Bagman who was rushed to the infirmary wing to be flooed to St. Mungos, to get Fleur into the arena once the canon signal went up after explaining they needed to retrieve a golden egg from the dragons nest.

Viktor watched the mad champion with interest as the gears within his mind turned. He was certain he knew the name Milenko for a reason but not just for the introduction when the young man appeared out of the blue the night of Champion Selection. "You say come from Russia?" he asked with a rather thoughtful look.

"Russia came after I was first born. What's it to you tall, dark and brooding?" Milenko asked.

"I know you but.. hard placing name."

Milenko's eyes gained a curious glint as he tilted his head almost as if in thought. "When you get something let me know. I'm going to nap. Blondie should be friend Veela within ten minutes top" he said carelessly. Finding a bench long enough for him to lay on he stretched out on his back and folded one arm behind his head while the other covered his eyes. He _wasn't_ actually going to nap, any information was going to be a boon to him and lucky enough for him his mage senses were trained from nearly a millennia of existence that interpreting the slightest disturbance in the magic would be like opening the archives at the Vatican Library to the world at large.

"He's got some stones on him. Pissing off the daughter of the French Minister of Magic" the Hogwarts champion said.

"Big stones means he can back up" Viktor said with the same thoughtful look.

"We shall see."

Milenko snorted internally. The brunette male would see how just how well he could back up his word. It would hurt him. A lot.

**_**Nearly two hours later**_**

"and Diggory is done ladies and gentleman! Quite the showing from Hogwarts Champions!"

Milenko sat up with a yawn. He actually almost fell asleep with the fact it took so long. To call himself disappointed with the abilities of his 'competition' was an understatement. They were horribly trained and practically flailing in the face of danger despite seemingly knowing about the dragons before hand. When the canon signal went off he strolled in with so much as any tell of fear.

The stands of the arena were silent as the angry Hungarian Horntail roared and breathed fire at the wizard dared to approach her & her nest. Her nest, her children, were in danger and she wouldn't let the wizard take them!

_"You know, I could make this easy for you or I can kill you. The choice is yours **Imperial**" _Milenko growled with a malicious smile as his aura seemed to coalesce in a shadowy figure.

The Horntail cowered at the image and, sensing it would die if it didn't comply, bowed in submission removing its wing.

Milenko walked to the nest maintaining his aura the entire way and stole the egg. _"Good decision, however you took too long."_ In a swing of his free arm the eggs shook before the audible pop of what could only be miniature explosions sounded staining the inside of the eggs crimson. That same motion of his arm conjured black metal-like spikes that rained down on the dragons head. It didn't even have a chance to roar as half a dozen spike penetrated the eyes killing as the points sheared through the brain. "I claim the corpse of this dragon and its slain children in the name of my line, Rasputin." The body and egg vanished as Milenko felt the tension in the air.

Near all jaws were slack from the Durmstrang contingent. This mad man, this monster... was related to the mad monk, the so called 'Holy Demon' Rasputin?!


	5. Ponderings, A Ball and Shock

Luna was far from amused as she perched herself atop the flames inside the Ravenclaw common room fireplace. Her Housemates looked like she'd gone insane, not that they didn't already think it anyway, but the way that the flames licked at her skin and clothes without setting anything aflame had their eyes on her more than usual. The content of her thoughts revolved around the rather mysterious way that Milenko had been avoiding her. Perhaps avoiding was not the right word but he had spent far less time than normal, not that there was so much time spent between them regardless.

"Ms. Lovegood!"

Silvery-blue eyes shot over to where she saw her Head of House looking at her with concern showing in his eyes. "What?! It's rude to interrupt people when they're thinking!" she snapped with a narrowed gaze.

To call Filius Flitwick beyond concerned and shocked with Luna's behavior was an understatement. Of all the students in his House, Luna was his favorite from the moment he saw her intelligence spike up in her first year. He was aware of the sheer brilliance she possessed, both booksmarts and people intelligence, yet it seemed that since the beginning of the year she was starting to come apart at the seams. Her temper was becoming notoriously short and the last person to try bullying her, something he tried numerous times to intervene in but was blocked from by Albus citing childish troublemaking was something bound to happen no matter what academic setting you were in, nearly had a knife the girl conjured shoved into their neck. "Ms. Lovegood, I must insist that you come out from there right now. It simply isn't safe."

"This school isn't safe, sir." There was a hint of snideness to Luna's words as she added the 'respectful' term with an audible reluctance. "A literal death trap that was on the Third Floor three years ago guarded by a cerberus, a Class XXXXX dangerous and 'Dark' creature. A death trap that the Headmaster announced to the school at large at the Opening Feast."

There was an unease that spread across the common room.

"Students being petrified left and right by a mysterious monster in my first year. A horde of Dementors posted on the school that nearly sucked out the soul of Rosalind Potter last year. Now this, a tournament that was killed off two centuries ago because two thirds of the champions were either killed during the perilous trials they faced or killed themselves afterwards because they were maimed beyond the spectrum of Healing Magics capabilities." There was a scoff as Luna glared at Cho Chang across the common room. "I have nothing to say and you have no control of me other than being an academic overseeing my education. You do nothing to protect your students when they terrorize others under your so-called 'care' and don't give a dragons dung about us so spare me your diatribe." Silvery-blue orbs dared the quarter-goblin to defy her by saying anything against the truths she spoke.

Flitwick couldn't rebut Luna in any way since it was the truth. Well, most of it was true save for the bullying situation; his hands were tied by Dumbledore on that front without an avenue of recourse that wouldn't risk his job. He went to open his mouth to speak but Luna was gone in a flash of fire before everyone's eyes.

* * *

Milenko twirled the golden egg in front of him with a furrowed brow. While the unwashed masses had cowered and ran from the screaming of his clue egg, he himself was far more invested into what the poemed clue meant. It was obvious that there would be a hostage situation in a body of water, most likely their big lake, but who would be his hostage? Most of the people he interacted with were the Dark Carnival and seldomly the blonde Hogwarts witch Luna. Off hand he could think of three instances of being in her company so that made her the most unlikely candidate for his hostage. Of course, it also made her the _most likely _candidate since there was no way in the nine circles of Hell's Pit the members of the Dark Carnival would be his hostage since he hated them all with an unholy fury.

"Milen-"

"Riddle, if you don't tell me exactly what you want in the next five seconds I swear to the Fallen One I am going to tear you apart muscle by muscle. Once I finish tearing you apart I will categorically take your organs and preserve them into spirit jars. Of course, I'll leave your head intact to let you watch your pathetic magic struggle to reunite the parts of your body."

"Ringmaster-"

Milenko waved a hand at Riddle carelessly dropping the woman to the floor as he flooded her veins with agony unlike she ever felt before. "I don't care what that faggoty ass dipshit wants. I have far more important things to attend to if you can't see" he scoffed with a motion to the floating egg. "My act is not for an hour so drag you pain addicted slut ass out of my tent before I decide to tear out your ovaries and make you eat them!"

Riddle dragged herself out of the tent while clutching her chest.

"Even immortals do not have the common sense to listen huh?"

Milenko turned his head to look at the new voice and saw the blonde witch Luna leaning in the entryway to his tent. "No, too many centuries alive and you begin to believe yourself a higher power. The last immortal before Riddle believed himself to be a god and that he was untouchable." He turned his gaze back to the egg before floating it into his lap. "I tore him into one hundred equal pieces and put them in a blender. Saved his heart for last after engraving certain runes into the still beating organ. He died screaming bloody murder and cursing my name before his spirit was no more."

"Have you fallen to that hubris yet, Milenko?" Luna asked taking a few steps into the tent but remained a respectful distance away. Cordial he might have been the last few times but he was still a malefic entity that took over the body of Harry Potter. A malefic entity that was at least a millennia old at that.

"Once upon a time. Two centuries old and the object of worship by a cult of devoted worshippers. Then the Crusades happened and my host body was torn apart by 'Holy Knights of God'" Milenko spat. "Two centuries of schemes and machination undone by stupid Christian Zealots being commanded by corrupted so called Popes and Bishops who were guilty of the sins they were trying to stamp out!" The temperature briefly plummeted below zero before balancing out. "But you didn't come here to listen to me rant about the past now did you?" he asked rhetorically.

"No, not quite though I'm certain that they'd be quite interesting to listen to. What I came to inquire about is your lack of presence despite the appointments made."

Milenko's eyebrow furrowed further for a moment before his head turned to fully meet Luna's gaze. "I sent those little gremlins your kind uses as slaves with regards I could not make the appointments. Not for lack of trying but rather dealing with this" he made a motion toward the egg "and this" he said making a wider sweeping hand motion like he was gesturing to the carnival grounds.

"Those gremlins are called House Elves."

"They are grotesque little abominations so they are therefore gremlins. Little fuckers don't know what it means to go away if it was branded into their flesh with Hellfire."

Luna fought the urge to argue semantics, because their was most certainly a difference between gremlins and House Elves, but there was a reason she had come to see the mad mage. "This isn't entirely a social call Milenko. There was an announcement made about the tournament that you need to be made aware of."

Milenko arched an eyebrow. "An announcement you say? Wonder if they forgot to tell me deliberately... Most likely" he answered himself with a contemplative expression. "So what is this announcement that I must be made aware of?"

"There is apparently a tradition of a Yuletide Ball that all the Champions must attend with a date. They must open the Yuletide Ball with their date."

Milenko looked disgusted at the very mention of a ball on Yule. "They're trying to kill me aren't they? All that foul _White Magic_ will try to burn me alive" he said with a sneer curling his lip fiercely.

"Will it work?

"Of course it won't!" Milenko nearly snarled at Luna but refrained from doing so. Scaring off the blonde witch would mean less entertainment for himself. "It'll equal the death of the White Fairies powering the spells. My foul aura will overpower them to the point they either turn or drop dead. If things go as I suspect they will, I'll have a dead student of your school at my feet bleeding to death for a stunt they pulled shortly after I arrived here."

Luna's brow furrowed at that. Someone tried to ensnare Milenko with White Magic after his arrival? Who would be so stupid to do that?

"And no, you are not going as my date" Milenko said seeing the look cross Luna's face.

"What made you think I was going to ask that question?"

"I've killed enough Alpha's and Supreme's to have mastered the Seven Wonders Rites before I extinguished those fucking covens who dared stand against me. Daughters and Sons of Salem, they were jokes of the highest order! Concilium is far more powerful than that watered down piece of shit Legilimency, mind control and mind reading in the same spell" Milenko said turning to look back at his egg. "Plus I have my suspicions about what the next task is and the implications about the Yuletide Balls true intention is. Here's a hint: it's not just a party for the world to see."

Luna looked intrigued at that and decided to let the subject lie. Milenko was far, far older than her and had seen more than her to know when things were not as they seem. "Anything I can do to assist your preparations for the Second Task then?" she asked taking a seat on a cushion.

"Tell me what you know about the beings that reside in that lake on this property."

* * *

Within Dumbledore's office he frowned thoughtfully at the tournament officials. They were speculating on hostages despite the strategy to choosing said hostages was to see whom the Champions brought to the ball planned for Christmas day.

"The demon possessed boy isn't going to bring anyone. He probably won't even show!"

This declaration made the ancient wizard sigh in annoyance. "He must show Barty, he is bound by the tournament contract that went into effect the moment his name came out of the goblet" Dumbledore said kneading his temples. "His name is Harry Potte-"

"That _thing _is not my son!"

All eyes turned to look at James Potter hatred filled face. While the rooms occupants could understand the fury at what had happened, it only happened because they failed to listen when warned.

"James, your son is still in there. No soul can be driven away without access to a very select few spells and those were lost eons ago. Even the earliest covens in this country of ours know the spells mentioned vaguely in legends, nothing more."

"Believe what you will but if that _thing_ comes near my family I'll murder it myself, consequences be damned! It's already cursed and disfigured my daughter for the rest of her natural life. It's already nearly killed me, my wife and my daughter. _It _deserves to die!" James hissed before storming out of the office, the door slamming shut violently behind him. Why Dumbledore asked him to be there he didn't know but the fact that the topic of conversation was that _monster_ enraged him royally.

The remaining persons in the room looked at Dumbledore with unreadable expressions. "Why did you think it was a good idea to have Lord Potter here after all that was done by the monster that calls itself Milenko? Lord Potter has every right to be beyond enraged and swear death upon the vessel body regardless of the fact that it is his flesh and blood sons body."

Dumbledore leaned forward a touch with his chin resting on his folded together hands. "Because, I think I know how to ensure all the Champions safety and exercise the demon that has taken a hold of young Mr. Potter's body. Unfortunately, I need James' help as Lord Potter. If he doesn't come around then the Ministry of Magic, Hogwarts and the other schools will be held accountable for the atrocities that are bound to happen. The murder of the dragon and her children are only the beginning I fear. I have seen evil like this twice before and the whole world suffered because of it" he said grimly.

All the British born officials grimaced while the foreign school heads had a solid guess that Dumbledore meant the last British Dark Lord, Voldemort, and the atrocities committed by Gellert Grindelwald.

"And how do you plan to get that done? Anything _you _do, whether its done through you directly or someone else, constitutes interference on behalf of Hogwarts which would forfeit Mr. Diggory from the tournament as a cheater. The consequences of which would strip the boy of his magic and kill him" Barty Crouch Senior said with a scowl taking over his lips.

"There are loopholes in the laws of the tournament Barty just as there loopholes in the laws of magic" was Dumbledore's reply before he raised a privacy ward to make it so nothing they said would be heard outside the office.

* * *

_****Christmas day; twelve hours before the ball opens****_

Milenko scowled fixing his suit in a full length mirror. He didn't like having to go into this horse and pony show but if there was a way to cause more havoc, to draw people into the carnival so their souls could be taken, then so be it. Adjusting his tie, he gave himself a once over; blood red undershirt, black trousers, human flesh leather shoes and a tailed suit jacket split into nine tails dyed a a crimson red like he'd just dipped them in a freshly cut open victim. To top off the look he twirled his hand materializing a top hat.

"All dolled up for the huma-"

Milenko snapped his fingers decapitating Riddle as he passed her, nonplussed about the crimson life essence staining his suit. "Someone has to draw in the sheep. Not like a pain slut like you understands the meaning of the word subtlety." Adjusting the angle of the top hat on his head he conjured a cane to finish the look. "Someone's in the morgue with Mira, someone's in the morgue with Mira I knooooow.. Filling her with formaldehyde"

The spine chilling humming of the macabre ditty echoed in the air as Milenko left the carnival grounds.

The short walk to the castle was a solitary one as Milenko pondered how to deal with the headache he was about to face. The pussy witch, some scottish old crone who smelled like moth balls and regret, was bound to try something about him coming up stag. _'Of course I could force her transformation into a cat and snap her neck. I haven't done a proper **Voodoo Rite** for some time.. But then again, Papa Legba prefers drugs and innocent souls over animals sacrifices...'_

In the hall leading up to the Great Hall, which was transformed for this historic occasion, Minerva McGonagall stood stoically clutching the list as she and the other Champions with their dates stood waiting for the last one to arrive. By rights of body and blood, the monster that murdered the dragon and her unhatched children may be the same kin as her favorite male student but by every other... Her thought was interrupted by a loud bang as the very devil himself entered with an unnerving smirk tugging ever so slightly at the edges of his lips. "Mr. Milenko, where is your-"

"One more word and your outer pussy will resemble your inner one" Milenko said twirling his cane ever so slightly. "As for your complaint bitch" his eyes gleamed with humor and malevolence "I did bring a date. Great guy, good looking, **_a humor to die for_**... Me. Let's go pussy bitch, some of us have lives to lead that don't involve smoking catnip and snorting cream." Without so much as a second look or answering the enraged half threats he threw open the doors to the hall and strode in killing all the noise as he entered.

Alone.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Ok so I kinda want to warn you all that this chapter is going to be a little weirdly formatted. The first half of the chapter is going to jump between Milenko's perspective on the ball and Luna's decidedly twisted actions to bring Riddle under some form of hell for the perceived threat to her claim on Milenko. Though I will not mark the change or label it, the name and described settings will make it clear whose locations & actions are being talked about. Once you get past that bit, a more general view of what is going on with how Dumbledore plans to deal with 'freeing Harry' from the malicious entity controlling his body.

I also wanted to take this time to layout something that I have given a lot of thought to. I have almost ten stories on here and while some have more chapters than others, most are not paid as much attention as I would like or initially planned. That being said, going forward I'm going to focus on a block of three to four of my current stories going forward so that I can flush them out like I had originally planned to. The stories I am going to focus on going forward with for the moment are What it means to be King, Welcome To The Show!, A musicians muse and temper & finally He Who Ate God. Just because I am going forward on these four does not mean by any measure that I am letting the others die, though I'm sure there are those who believe I have already, but I assure they are **NOT **going to die into the graveyard of abandoned stories.

With everything needing said addressed, **_ONTO THE SHOW!_**

Oh! Last thing I promise, I had initially planned for the perspective regarding Milenko to be longer regarding the ball but I kind of... channeled a little bit of Hotel Hazbin Alastor here so... I broke it up as you'll see below with that same sort of flair and short tempered split personality that Vivziepop gave Alastor in the show. Yes, that is the disclaimer. Sue me if you find the mannerisms he displays at the ball unbecoming or obnoxious, he is **_not _**going to get better any time soon.

* * *

The silence that greeted Milenko's peacock worth strut made him smirk as the horrified eyes noticed how much blood was on his clothes. How the sheep were so blind and lead by the short hairs was as sad as it was amusing.

Up where the tournament officials and school representatives were sat, minus his "school" since there was no representative and if the carnival had one then the other reps would've been long dead, the ashen faces of the men looked in horror at the blood stained young man. Between the nasty aura, bloodstained clothes and devilishly sinister smirk on his lips the boy was just as terrifying here as he was in the arena.

"Now this, this a party! Why I haven't seen a party of this size or magnificence since the Stock Market Crash of 1929. So many suicides, so many murders" Milenko said with a wistful tone like he was recalling a pleasant treasured memory. _"So many orphan slaves... Good times... I **do so **miss those times."_

Horrified gasps were echoed as the remaining champions and their dates entered the hall.

* * *

Within the Dark Carnival's grounds, Riddle was stood atop the stage practicing her newest act. It was more accurately self-mutilation but in the eyes of the Ringmaster it was a show since it would draw a crowd. After all, what's a sideshow freak that doesn't have scars of some sort to mark them as the freak they are? It was something she disagreed with but didn't voice beyond the first time. It was also the last time as Milenko took the time to torture her to the brink of insanity and tear her soul to shreds before leaving the magic that made her immortal pull it back together one piece at time.

"You like to piss him off don't you?"

Riddle's head snapped over and saw the petite blonde witch that hung around Milenko watching her with an unreadable expression. She could guess the reason for the witch to be here instead of in her school at the ball thing but assuming was never the right answer. "Milenko sees no reason for having fun!" she whined petulantly like a child. "It's always 'steal souls here' or 'steal souls there' or-"

Luna snapped her fingers making a supersonic pitch assault Riddle's ears, one of the few spells her mother made successfully before her death. With a pitch that high in tone it forced the woman to her knees cradling her ears as her eardrums burst and bled out while her hands cupped the shell to try blocking the noise. With a deliberate slowness the witch advanced toward the stage, the tent closing behind her from a rather harsh blow of wind. "You listen to me you loose lipped, brainless hussy" blue eyes darkened to black as she drove her foot into Riddles's chest with enough force to knock the woman on her back and cough up blood "you'll leave him alone from now on. If I ever so much as hear you looked in his direction I will tear your head from you body, burn your corpse body to ash and scatter the ashes before I take and mount your head as a trophy above my desk! Am I understood?" she asked with a malevolent smirk.

* * *

"Ooh, there's booze. Why this is a proper party after all." Milenko snapped his fingers and the bowl of spiked punch dumped itself into a cup that, despite the size, filled completely without spilling a drop. Floating the glass to himself he sniffed it and scowled at the scent. "Weak ass shit, who brought this dollar store piss water? If you're going to piss in the kool-aid use something strong enough to knock all the kings men off their horses and onto their ass" he said with his eyes darkening to black shades. Dumping the glass he continued toward the dance floor and snapped his fingers.

Black sulfurous clouds swallowed the orchestra for a moment, the live musicians panicking before going silent, before blowing away revealing demonic looking olden time musicians only the flesh was falling off in places and the velvet clothes were rotted showing decaying limbs. Dead eyes stared out from hollow sockets as groans escaped their lips.

"Now I understand I have to open this little shindig with a dance of some sort?" Though it was posed as a question Milenko snapped his fingers again.

Instead of a black sulfurous cloud, an ominous column of red light shot up from _through_ the floor and ceiling with flickering eldritch sigils floating around the column. As if on a silent cue a woman walked out with a rather peeved expression on her face. Her skin was was an ashen grey while her long hair was a light shade of red it was almost pink with a dual horizontal layer of black striping at the bottom touching her shoulders. Instead of looking normal, her ears were on top of her head like an animal, a deer specifically, and pitch fork like horns between her ears. Eyes like rubies glared at Milenko, the pupil a sharp demonic slit that seemed to resemble an old fashioned radio dial inside its retro glass face. Dressed in black thigh high stockings, a dark red suit jacket with pink pinstripes and its sleeves rolled up to her elbows, a black bowtie around her throat, a red shirt that matched the color of her hair minus the black coloring and black biker shorts under her suit jacket top completed the look. "Milenko!" the woman growled with an angry venomous growl. "What in the name of Lucifer's Dickless Wonder am I doing here?!"

Milenko wasn't fazed as the angry demon woman pointed black gloved hands, the tips of the gloved digits dyed red with what appeared to be blood, in his face with shaking wrath. "Alastor my lovely wench, why I'm so happy to see you answered my invitation."

"Don't give me that shit! I was in the middle of-"

Milenko backhanded the woman he called Alastor across the face with a smile that looked kind on the surface but reeked of malevolence. "You'll heed my summon when I summon you, you insignificant little whore. You were a lowly little fuckstick in the Fourth Circle trying to make a big bad shit of yourself when I dragged you out of that brothel sucking obese human soul dick for essence to upgrade your status from free cunt to cheap prostitute" he said with zero fucks given at the fact he was putting one of the most famous demons of Christian mythos out there as not only the fact he was actually a _she_ but also started out as little more than a whore. He wasn't deaf to the whispers, fear filled stares and more than a handful of Hogwarts kids tracing an outline of a crucifix over their stupid looking bathrobes. "Now, I still own you Alastor and I really would like to get out of this monkey suit since I'm sure that the idiot James Potter would like nothing more than to tear my head from my body; futile as an endeavor as it would be. Be a dear and get off your ass so I can do this stupid dance with these idiots" a flippant gesture was made toward the other champions and their dates who all looked pissed off, save a Ravenclaw boy who was accompanying the French veela witch representing Beauxbaton's that was staring at said witch sightlessly, without so much as a look toward them "before I make you. suffer"

* * *

Riddle looked at the blonde girl with terror in her eyes. The petite blonde was covered in her blood from the collar of her robe down to her shoes. This girl was nuts! She didn't even _like _Milenko and this psycho teen was under the assumption that she was trying to seduce the bastard!

"I asked you a question or do I have to cut out another portion of your kidney?" Luna asked twirling a bloodstained knife in hand. With Riddle pinned under her own prop objects for the act, deadly razor sharp discs, had been severed in half with a spell and trapped against the ground it was quite easy restraining the immortal. The copious amounts of blood from lacerated veins just squirting the red liquid did little to make her bat an eye.

"I don't want him! He is not an-"

Luna stabbed her knife through Riddle's eye ignoring the scream. "I despise liars." Pulling the knife and eye clean out of the socket she regarded the destroyed organ with a detached interest before severing the optic nerve which seemed to bring the heavily injured immortal more pain. "I'd murder you for your insolence but you are immortal unfortunately. Your immortality doesn't ensure you against punishment though" she said as her eyes turned a solid silver color. "You will not interact with Milenko ever again unless absolutely necessary. Your presence irks him and beyond that _it irks me_. My violent temper is less than his but I know how to make you hurt. After all, this little demonstration should have more than sufficed I know how to hurt you." Her eyes narrowed at the rustle of fabric and turned to spot said possessed wizard looking at her with amusement.

"Don't mind me, continue your little show."

Luna's brow furrowed as she stomped on one half blade forcing it all the way into Riddle's wrist til the bone stopped it, the increased geyser of blood spraying her head to toe in crimson liquid not fazing her as the immortal screamed like a banshee. "I was having a spirited conversation about boundaries with Riddle. She doesn't seem to grasp what the virtue of honesty is" the blonde said as one shoulder dipped in disappointment. She'd intended to have this demonstration done with _before _Milenko was done for the evening at the ball but c'est la vie.

"Riddle wouldn't know boundaries if they were burned into her skin with basilisk venom." Milenko crouched down beside the jibbering immortal. The fact the demented immortal looked fearful of the little blonde witch was amusing as it was slightly erotic. Erotic in terms of the fact that the blonde witch was the one to inspire it but less so since she was underage. "So what boundaries are you trying to pound into her flesh?"

"Oh just how she seems to find it utterly fascinating to push your patience" Luna said twirling the knife again in her hand.

"If that's all you're far too late. Between moments of annoying me I find some way of torturing her, it doesn't seem to stick." Milenko stood back up and kicked Riddle in the jaw busting it and sending a handful of teeth scattering across the dirt floor. "Have fun" he said with a nonchalant wave over his shoulder as he left the tent.

* * *

_****Dumbledore's office after the Yule ball****_

"Albus, you are positively mad! That.. _that monster cannot be redeemed in **any** way, shape or form!_"

Severus Snape grimaced from his silent post observing the nearly frothing Potter patriarch rant at the ancient headmaster. While it made him positively ill to even **_mentally_ **concede it, Potter was actually _right _on this matter. He was far too familiar with the ancient wizards MO for wanting to redeem from those who strayed from what he believed to be the one true path all humans, muggle or wizard, were meant to travel down. "Despite my urge to vomit and obliviate myself for even thinking it, Potter is right. You want to redeem a body possessed by a spirit more malevolent than the Dark Lord? Did you not see that monster summon the most feared demon to muggle 'God fearing' Christian slaves and what he did in front of everyone? He manhandled and beat down a demon that is feared for torturing human souls for eternity in front of the international media, something not even _you_ can quash without losing face or credibility for."

Summoning Magic, **_true_** Summoning Magic and not the bastardized Summoning Charm, was a nearly lost art with very few families old enough to have the tomes that would guide new bloodline practitioners to learning their legacy. Even by those ridiculously rare standards, Summoning Magic was extremely limited in _what_ could be summoned. While it wasn't rare for deities to be summoned by practitioners of old, they were only called upon for the most dire of straits. Elemental Spirits and Nature Spirits were far more common but summoning things like _demons _were considered taboo and forbidden. Demons were malicious entities and had a fearsome, cruel reputation for due reasons. The fact that Milenko, an entity of unknown origins that was possessing the body of Harry Potter, so nonchalantly summoned such a high echelon demon with the seeming authority of holding it to his whim like a slave was frightening.

"The entity possessing Harry's body and the subdued spirit of Harry Potter himself are completely separate entities. The foul essence-"

James' fierce scowl-sneer would put even Severus to shame as he slammed his hands on Dumbledore's desk interrupting the ancient wizard. "_ENOUGH!_ If you poke your head into the affairs of the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter **again**, I will see you thrown in front of the Wizengamot! I lost one child because of your inadequate attempts to find him turning up less than dragon shite! When his body is _finally_ found, it's due to someone entering his name in a tournament meant for those who are of age! Then when we find him, _**at your incessant badgering, **_we tried to do something and do you know what we got out of it? My daughter permanently maimed and made dumber by the day & us nearly murdered!" he growled with a darkness permeating his tone. "If you want to waste _your _time on that monster be my guest! Leave me and my family alone or I swear that I will **ruin** you on my honor as Lord Potter and Representative Black!" With all that said, and Dumbledore in shock, James strode with clenched fists at his side out of the office ignoring the ancient mans begging words from him to heed reason.

"I've said my piece already. That thing breaks the very taboo of Summoning Magic and has an Arch Demon level entity feared by muggles as his slave. I'm not suicidal enough to throw myself on that sword for you, honor debt owed be damned." Just like James, Severus left ignoring the louder and renewed pleas -for that was what they were- for him to stop and listen.

Dumbledore was left alone with only the living portraits of headmasters and headmistresses past looking down on him, looks of disgust and malcontent aimed at him without any attempts to hide their expression. He didn't notice this however as his mind reeled at breakneck pace. He had to do something or all his planning was going to go to waste!


	7. Chapter 7

January came and went with little fanfare, that was combined with a dozen students from all three schools going missing. While the three Heads of Schools were without doubt of _why_ the kids disappeared, they couldn't prove _who_ had taken them. That wasn't to say they already **knew** it was the person behind it was Milenko. The spirit that inhabited the body of the once Potter son was as twisted and dark as The Dark Lord, something that it had no problem presenting to the worlds flinching horror.

James Potter found himself once again _requested_ to Dumbledore's office. Rosalind was deteriorating faster by the day now, worryingly so with Valentines Day approaching. It was almost sickening how empty headed and superficial his daughter had become from the confident and fiercely intelligent witch that reminded him of Lily herself at that age. Lily had tried a laundry list of things to reverse the damage done to Rosalind, Dumbledore proved himself a failure with the debacle around Harry's disappearance when he was a toddler so the parents weren't about to believe that monster was the only chance to reverse the curse damage, and so far failed spectacularly at every junction. If Dumbledore begged the case of '_saving Harry's soul_' one more time he was going to say fuck it and murder the old man by strangling him with his own beard.

"Oh good, a slave knows how to answer a masters summons. You have trained your _pets_ well Dumbledore."

James froze and shook with anger at the voice. That.. that monster was in Dumbledore's office?!

"James is no-"

"No no, he's not your slave? Yet you tell him what to do and he does it. You tell him your little vigilante group needs an obscene amount of money to regularly fund the efforts to arrest fine upstanding wizards of Britain's Nobility. Wizards who you claim to be of the darkest sort and continued service to a Dark Lord that somehow defied death; wizards who did things against their wills by the way of a mind control spell and have long since paid back their debt to society. Money that the pet at your door hands over from a family fortune that has been dwindling at a speed that most financial experts would call alarmingly frightening." Milenko sipped from the mug of blood in his hands without batting an eye at the bristling of the 'older' wizard. "How else would you define a slave Dumbledore?" he asked casually tilting his head to the left making a stunning spell pass by his head and splash against the stone wall near the fireplace.

Dumbledore grimaced as his hands gripped into rather tight white knuckle fists. He knew Milenko hadn't thrown this meeting together for willy-nilly reasons, there was a reason for the demonically possessed Potter son to be here. "Why did you want this meeting with the Head of the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter?" he asked through a forced calm.

"I've been quite bored. The Carnival hasn't gotten any guest since those twelve wonderful people came through to see the show. Why I was almost fond of the redheaded twins. Their screams as they ran from the Ringmaster and his abominations of nature… Regardless, I come bearing a deal for you Lord Potter despite yours and your wife's attempt at a purification ritual that would have killed your sons body. A body I am particularly happy in mind but that's neither here nor there" Milenko said waving his free hand theatrically. "I'm sure your daughter has gotten to the point she can barely speak and when she does it's little more than gibberish while all her actions are so based upon her hormones you probably have her locked up in whatever private quarters you and your wife possess so she doesn't fuck the first boy to flirt with her openly."

James hand twitched as his grip on his wand tightened. "What do you want _monster_?" he bit out with a harsh tone bordering on a growl.

"I do a single act of kindness once every four centuries or so. I missed my last one so I thought to myself 'Milenko, that little bitch you made stupid would make for a **wonderful challenge**. Why, you ought to return her intelligence to her and entice her to seek you out'. Petty revenge is such a fun game to play and beat" Milenko said with a smirk that revealed razor sharp almost fang-like canines. "Of course, I won't take away her scar. Oh no, the little bitch is going to live with that for the rest of her life. But for my kindness to go into effect Lord Potter, we need to make a deal."

The portraits of the previous Headmasters looked on in a mix of horror and awe as the young man that was Milenko was surrounded by ghostly eldritch sigils of powers that seemed to flicker in and out of existence. The last Eldritch Class Mage was a terrifying man from The Orient only known as The Master, a man who had been dead for nearly six hundred years. He was a man of such vile repute that his speaking his name or title, both cursed as a taboo that was still in effect to this day, was a death sentence for the speaker. The Master was infamous for imbuing every deal, every action he ever made where it concerned other beings, with warped eldritch magic that stole the sole and magic from his victims. No one was safe from his fury, his rage or his warped desires to see the world burn. Knowing all that they did, the portraits were horrified to see such a blatant use of eldritch magic again. Eldritch magic of that type, lost to time or so many had hoped, was at its a core a dark and sinister force that was as parasitic as it came.

"What's the _catch_?"

Milenko's eyes seemed to twinkle with a malicious glint. "Oh no catch but one teeny tiny little favor to be paid at a time of my choosing. That's all and I snap my fingers returning your daughters intelligence. All you have to do is" he extended his free hand to the side with palm up "is shake my head and seal the deal."

There was a tension in the air as Dumbledore tried to speak but a sharp snap of Milenko's fingers sewed the mans lips shut instantly with sharp edged silver wire not unlike barbed wire.

"_Do we have a deal Lord Potter? Or are you as stupid as you look_?"

Dark maniacal laughter and foul magic swept across the entirety of the Hogwarts ground when the two hands met, clasped and shook. A deal with the devil had been struck and for better or worse, it was most definitely worse for the remaining Potters though they didn't know it yet, there was a newly crafted vacuum of power that would soon be corrupted in the favor of an entity that might as well have been the Grim Reaper incarnate.

* * *

February third brought out an ominous dark cloud over the castle of Hogwarts. Over a startlingly short time Rosalind Potter was back to her old self albeit slightly more violent than she was previously. Watching her hex an idiot boy who thought he could be inappropriate with her like they could while under the effects of the degenerative spell was the highlight of any day though not many people would publicly testify to such sentiments; the Slytherins would say that the most guilty parties, Gryffindors to the shock of those who put the red and gold on such a noble pedestal, of the offensive were by far the stupidest and funny to watch their due suffering.

"**STUPID INBRED PIECE OF SHIT! IF I HAVE TO BEAT ANOTHER MOTHERFUCKER LIKE YOU I'M GOING TO SLIT YOUR WORTHLESS FUCKING BODIES TO RIBBONS STARTING WITH THE FUCKING VOICE BOX AND END WITH YOUR MISERABLE LOT OF EXCUSES YOU CALL DICKS!**"

The fact that the beyond infuriated Potter Heiress was seconds away from slitting a Hufflepuff boys throat ear to ear was beyond funny to Milenko. The fact he was clutching onto a wall for support while laughing hysterically while the Hogwarts staff and Potter parents were beside themselves with what to do made it even funnier to the mad mage. "Of all the unho-unholy things above and below, I knew it would do something to her but not this!" he managed out between almost painful sounding guffaws of laughter.

That admission turned the Potter parents, Hogwarts Headmaster and its Deputy Headmistress on him at once. Lily, beyond her wits ends by now, had the nastiest look on her face as she drew her wand and fired a vicious purple colored spell at Milenko.

Recognizing the spell at a glance Milenko let it hit, the flesh rotting off his hand and revealing the muscle underneath as a result without so much as a sign of pain on his face. "Give and take your ginger bitch. I gave your daughter her intelligence back and it seems her sense of compassion has left her because of the spell. Alchemists refer to it as the law of Equivalent Exchange. I could of left her as a brainless little bimbo but I did you and your worthless bloodline a favor in exchange for a favor I can redeem at any given time. Like right now for instance." A sickly black aura enveloped his hand before the flesh and his fingernails grew back perfectly though the stench of iron from his blood dripping into a large puddle was heavy in the air.

Lily's nasty glare turned on James and the Headmaster. "You allowed this!?" she snarled with a black hatred in her eyes.

"Oh the old fool tried to stop it but you see, this was a choice _your husband_ made. It's too bad he didn't think before shaking my hand and sealing the deal. _He left the favor open ended so I can ask for anything and Mother Magic will enforce it no matter the request I make!_"

You could feel the temperature in the room drop to below zero as all the students sans Rosalind fled the room the adults and monster in human flesh were in. As cold as it was, it was silent enough to hear the earth rotating on its axis as Lily's black hatred filled glare went supernova in an instant. Watching James Potter, the famous Lord Potter and decorated Hero Auror of the war against The Dark Lord Voldemort, dodge the spell fire from his wife was comical as literally every category and grade of spell was tossed at the pale man. The redheaded woman's word were unintelligible in her fury and it seemed that the gravity of having a completely open ended favor with a monster like Milenko was deadlier than deadly. The fortune of the Potters could be gone in an instant, the entire Potter bloodline could be murdered by his hand on the order of the mad mage.. anything was possible and he, meaning James, was his own damnation.

Growing bored Milenko simply Phased out of the room after grabbing a seemingly 'empty' pocket of air. Reappearing on the astronomy tower he dropped the 'empty' pocket of air earning a whining yelp. "Spy on me now Luna? I'm not sure if I'm to be flattered or annoyed" he said rolling his eyes.

Luna huffed being found out and threw off the invisibility cloak she'd stolen from Filch's office. She had suspicions of who the owner was but the fact no one had claimed it for three years had her not quite caring since Wizengamot laws were clear on matters of 'Abandoned Pureblood Artifacts' and the laws of possession when it came to new owners. "I'd say flattered because I found it" the teen witch said with her arms crossed under her chest.

"The Clitoris?" Milenko asked. "I assumed all women knew where that was. Then again this century has turned most young into closeted finger sluts who wouldn't know how to have a good time with a real dick if it slapped them in the face."

"The Clitoris? What's that, some kind of muggle toy or something?" Luna asked with a confused head tilt. "No, a way to get around your little hangup about my age."

Milenko facepalmed at the fact Luna had no idea what he was talking about. "I have nothing about your age."

"You clearly do and have said so on more than one occasion."

"It's a manner of _speech_!" Milenko bit out with narrowed eyes. "It isn't about _your age_ but **your age**. Torturing Riddle is one thing, she's a fucking immortal for the time being so turning her into an experimental torture doll is all never ending fun. Frankly, with all the lifetimes I have lived I have seen girls like you. **You do not have the guts for casual murder.** Prove to me that you do and we can revisit the discussion."

Luna opened her mouth to speak but Milenko was gone less than a blink. Milenko didn't think that she had the stomach for murder, _casual murder_, and the unspoken extension of Dark Magic? If he wanted to see her step up to bat she'd _**show** _him! The blonde Ravenclaw exited the tower with a dark contemplative look on her face. Who could she reasonably take and kill to prove just how capable she was of the things to make him reconsider how capable she was? A sudden idea made her smile sinisterly. Now that was most certainly an idea she could get behind wholeheartedly. It would prove to Milenko she not only had the stomach and was very capable _but_ also solve one of the schools, no magical England as whole, biggest issues. Ending the dynasty of one of the most reviled men would certainly be a feather in her blood stained cap.

* * *

Nearly seven days exactly later the castle was filled with horror as Aurors and the White Paladins, the highest law enforcement in all of England directly under the rule of the sitting Monarch, stormed the Great Hall. Stripped naked, skinned and crucified to the cross was the form of one Draco Malfoy. The blonde ferrets eyes were gouged out, his belly slit open hip to hip and what remained of his 'manhood' was not only cut off from his groin but shoved through the hole in his neck so that the mushroom head was peeking out between the dead lips. While the Aurors and White Paladins tried to reign in order Milenko took in the scene with an amused sort of stoicism.

"Still think I don't have what it takes or that my stomach is incapable of handling it?"

Milenko turned his head just enough to see Luna licking something red from her fingers.

"Strawberry jam, I was quite hungry by the time he stopped spasming for the last time" Luna said seeing the raised eyebrow.

"You really want this don't you?" Milenko asked noting a previously unseen blonde man appear from the antechamber where he knew a poor mage like the current brand could travel into by fireplace.

"Call it my innermost hearts desire."

"Why?"

"I've seen things to come. You **_need _**me."

"I don't believe in foretelling the future." Milenko pushed off the stone and past Luna. "But I do believe in intrigue and that you have done. Prove yourself to me, _truly_ prove you want it so badly, and I might make you immortal like me. I might take you with me. After a couple of rituals of course, I am a lot of things but not a pedophile." Then he was gone.

Luna smiled serenely but if one were to look closely, really closely, they would see the malice bubbling up into her blue eyes not a few shades darker and tinged with a dash of near black green around the pupil.


End file.
